Her Sunlit Lineage

by Graglithan The Greater


Hardcover Headaches

Canterlot City's Public Library. A building intimately familiar to Twilight, and one she would frequently visit during her time at Crystal Prep. Today's journey into her favorite location in all of Canterlot, however, was not one she found particularly enjoyable. Thankfully on the trip over, Rarity had managed to get her magic under control, but that did little to help Twilight's current problem.

Thump Thump Thump

The slowly building dent in the wall was a testament to that fact. Rarity, looking at Twilight in worry, shakily smiled as she tried to get closer without disturbing the visibly upset girl. "Now, Twilight, darling, you don't need to be so hard on yourself."

Thump Thump Thump

Rarity waved a hand towards the bookshelves, where one was empty of all books. "I mean, it's not like you could have known this would be the case when we got here."

Thump Thump Thump

Fed up with the lack of response, Rarity started semi-shouting. "Twilight Sparkle stop hitting your head against the wall this instant, you are going to get us kicked out!" Twilight's head whipped towards Rarity, and she held up a finger to her lips as she let out a long shush. In response, Rarity stepped back a bit but kept her frown. "Sorry, dear, but you were starting to make me believe you intended to give yourself a concussion."

Twilight made to comment, only to hiss as her head started to throb. With a sigh, she rubbed her forehead and sat down at a nearby table, quickly followed by Rarity. "No, I'm sorry." A glance back at the shelves, notably the empty one, made her want to scream in frustration. "I just... I don't get it." She waved an arm towards the shelf and looked to Rarity for an answer. "How. How can every last yearbook be gone!? These are one of the many kinds of records that are carefully cataloged annually!"

With a small sigh of her own, Rarity put a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "I don't understand either darling, but do get ahold of yourself. There have to be other means of solving this problem."


Meanwhile, two women were busy loading a dark blue Jeep with a plethora of yearbooks. The taller of the two looked at every date, making sure they hadn't skipped one, before sighing and shutting the back. Once done, the two drove off, making sure not a single person noticed them.

The Library's custodian who was busy cleaning the windows outside just shrugged and kept working. He'd seen weirder.


Back inside, the two girls were still at their table, where Twilight was finally calming down. "You're right." Twilight took a moment to breathe before looking at the table in thought. "Okay, let's see. Attempted methods of ascertaining the age of Principal Celestia so far would include direct questioning via Sunset, scouring all known social media accounts, and now an attempt at finding a yearbook that has resulted in null." An uncomfortable silence filled the air for a moment more before Twilight looked over to Rarity. "Any ideas about what else we could try?"

Rarity hummed as she looked around for an idea when her gaze landed a doorway across the library. Emblazoned over the door was the word 'Archives.' "I think at one point; the library also had an archive of old newspapers. Canterlot was much smaller until recently, so maybe we can check there to see if there ever was an article involving Celestia in her younger years?"

Twilight hummed as she thought it over herself before getting a small smile. "It's a long shot, but that might actually work! An article, even one from recent years, would have her age attached, and from there we can subtract that from the newspaper's publishing date to get a close estimate to her birth year, and I could calculate her approximate age!" Her smile fell as she kept going over the thought. "Though there is also the possibility of a lie somewhere in the documents. If I compile the information into a scatter plot, maybe..."

As Twilight was going through her brain blast, Rarity chuckled at the sight of it all. Twilight humming to herself, pulling a pencil and notepad out as she scribbled ideas. It was a moment where she felt tempted to pull out her phone and snap a picture of the studious girl.

Until she caught sight of a specific woman with an orange mass of hair as she entered the library.

"...then I could centralize the data and-" Twilight let out a small yipe as her friend pulled the both of them behind the bookshelves. She blinked a few times before raising an eyebrow and looking over in confusion. "Rarity, why are we hiding?"

Daring a peek around the corner, Rarity whispered. "Remember what we told you happened at the Battle of the Bands?" Twilight gave a small nod as she peered around the edge of the bookshelf herself. Rarity took that moment to point at the library's newest occupant. "That, my dear, is the leader of The Sirens."

Twilight's eyebrows shot up as she looked at Rarity. "Really?" Looking around the shelves again, she narrowed her eyes at the siren. "That much hair must be putting a ridiculous amount of weight and strain on her neck's vertebrae. How is she still walking?"

The siren, for her part, sighed and rolled her eyes before looking over at the duo. "Over 1000 years of practice and you two are nowhere near as quiet as you think you are." From their spot only twenty feet or so from the library's entrance, both Rarity and Twilight blushed as they ducked back around the shelves again. It wasn't long after that the subject of their momentary spying walked around the corner and stood with crossed arms. "So, Rainbooms, may I ask why you're following me? I can't imagine why."

Rarity turned her nose up as she huffed and looked away. "We were doing nothing of the sort. We are here for other reasons."

"Reasons that involve the prin-" Her thoughts stopped mid-sentence, and the siren frowned. Her eyes narrowed at Twilight. "Wait... You're not her. You must be this world's Twilight." Her frown turned into a smile as she dragged a finger up Twilight's chin. "Maybe we should get to know each other better. My name's Adagio. I already know yours."

"Uh..." Blushing heavily, Twilight looked over to Rarity for help.

Stepping between the two of them, Rarity glared down Adagio, only getting a smirk in response. "You will stop harassing my friend immediately."

Chuckling, Adagio raised her hands and took a step back. "Alright." Her smirk never faltered as she raised an eyebrow. "You're not getting jealous of me, are you? Flirting with your pretty little princess?" When the only answer she got was a subtle growl from Rarity, she rolled her eyes and frowned again. "Uh, this isn't any fun if you don't have the decency to get flustered." Adagio turned around and with a flick of her hair, started sauntering away. "I've got better things to do anyway."

Rarity scoffed and crossed her arms. "What exactly could a siren find better than irritating people?"

Adagio whipped around and glared with enough hatred in her eyes to make Rarity and Twilight flinch. "How about using this disgrace for public wifi because we can't afford any?" She walked back over for a moment and jabbed a finger at the both of them; her nail was coming dangerously close to Rarity's throat. "Thanks to you Rainbooms, our lives have been on a downhill spiral that doesn't look to be stopping soon. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find the cheapest functioning van I can on," Adagio shuddered and looked disgusted at herself, "Craigslist!"

The two stood there, dumbfounded as Adagio disappeared around the corner. When they got their senses back, Rarity gently grabbed Twilight's wrist and started pulling her over to the archives. "Let's... let's focus on the problem at hand."

"Right," Twilight muttered quietly to herself as she glanced back for a moment. "Right... magic problem first."

Inside the archives, Rarity let out a small sigh and rubbed her face. Part of her wanted to help Adagio for some unholy reason. Her lips pursed as a thought crossed her mind before she shook her head and banished it. There wasn't any reason she could think of that didn't make her a hypocrite. She was part of the reason Adagio was in this situation after all, so it was highly likely that if she even bothered to offer Adagio help, she would undoubtedly rebuff all of them. Then again, this was the same young woman who, with her sisters, tried brainwashing the school to suck the life out of everyone in the process. They didn't even have the same excuses as Sunset or Twilight of being possessed by their magic.

It was clear by Rarity's lack of reservations after thinking the matter over, which side of her thoughts won. However, a glance at Twilight showed that her decision was one her friend had yet to make. Placing a hand on Twilight's shoulder, she smiled. "I wouldn't worry about her too much, dear. She and her sisters have been fending for themselves just fine. She's probably just upset she can't mess with people's minds anymore."

Twilight smiled a bit herself, before raising an eyebrow. "You know, you and the girls never did go into detail about what happened back then. Maybe while we're searching, you could tell me the whole story?"

"Well, since you did run into one of them, it's only fair." Rarity quipped as the two stepped down a stairway, laughter echoing after them as they descended.


Adagio sat at the computer, watching out of the corner of her eye as the two left the room. Once they were gone, she got a small devious smile. "I wonder if the princess's look-alike noticed yet. It's not every day a human has the magic of an alicorn bouncing around inside them." She let out a small sigh and shook her head. "Shame I can't take it for myself. I wouldn't be reduced to doing any of this." Her attention went back to the computer screen when it let out a beep, and her smile fell into a scowl. "OH, COME ON! I just found that one, how can it be sold already!"

"SHHHH!"

Adagio growled at the library attendant who had shushed her, which quickly make the poor guy scurry away in fear. She had more important things to focus on than pathetic mortals and their rules.